Opening medals account, Shahzar Rizvi clinches silver in ISSF World Cup

NewsBharati    25-Apr-2018
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Changwon, April 25: It seems like Indian athletes have no stopping the winning spree. Shahzar Rizvi on Tuesday clinched India’s first medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup here, winning silver in the 10m air pistol event.

Rizvi, who had won the gold medal in his first appearance in the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico in March, fell short by just 0.2 points this time. He bagged the silver medal in the intriguing contest, scoring 239.8.

 

Russia’s Artem Chernousov clinched the gold medal with a final score of 240 while the bronze went to Bulgaria’s Samuil Donkov who shot a total score of 217.1. After Indian shooters drew a blank on the first two days, the onus was on Rizvi and Commonwealth Games medallists Jitu Rai and Om Prakash Mitharval to end the country’s medal drought.

The 23-year-old trailed by 4.3 points but caught up on the last six shots. Shahzar, who swept the air pistol gold at the shooting World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico in March this year, had missed this month's Commonwealth Games.

In the men’s trap event, former World Champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu slipped to the 24th spot with a total of 117, missing the final by four points.

Rizvi qualified for the final as the sixth best shooter with a score of 582. With Rizvi's silver, India gets eight more finals left to play over the next five competition days.